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Summary of the Sermon by Pastor Irwan Fransiskus, at Bethany International Service, on Sunday, 6 Aug 2017.

Prayer of Jabez

The prayer of Jabez teaches us how to depend on God and to call upon Him.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 – Jabez was more honourable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, “Because I bore him with pain.” Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.

Jabez’s mother gave birth to him in pain. She named her son “Jabez”, which means “pain.” Perhaps she led a painful life, so she decided to name her son “pain” literally. Jabez’s prayer is made up of four parts. First, Jabez asks God to bless him. Second, he asks God to enlarge his territory or increase his responsibility. Third, he prays that God will be with him and stay close. Lastly, Jabez asks that God keep him from harm so that he will be free from pain.

The Bible mentions that he was an honourable man because of his prayer.

1. Jabez asked God to bless him.Jabez understood that the blessings of Abraham in Genesis 12:2 – ask the Lord to bless us to glorify Him. Jabez understood the purpose of God’s blessings. Jacob wrestled with an angel at the Jabbok river until he was blessed (Genesis 32:26).

Power, fame, wealth, beauty and health cannot satisfy us. We can learn from the life of famous people like Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, Thierry Costa and Getulio Vargas. They did not find the meaning of life in their status, and these successful people ended up committing suicide.

2. Jabez prayed for God to enlarge his border so that God’s hands may be with Him.Jabez understood the prayer of Moses in Exodus 33:15 “If Your presence do not go with us, do not bring us from here”.

If the Lord is with us, His favour is also with us. It is very important to stay close to God and rely on His continued support and guidance throughout our life.

3. Jabez asked God to keep Him from harm. Jabez clearly knew and prayed specifically to the One who could protect him from evil and pain, 1 Chronicles 4:10 – Keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain. The Hebrew word for harm in this verse correlates with 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 – these are the examples of harm or “evil”.

How do we keep ourselves away from harm/evil? There are four examples of the word “harm/evil” in the Bible:

1. Idolatry – anything we love more than God is our idol. It could be our hobby, our occupation or even the love of chasing money (Ecclesiastes 5:9-10, Ephesians 5:5).

2. Sexual immorality is a sin we must avoid. We live in a world where society is experiencing moral degradation, where same sex marriage is legal in some countries. Genesis 49:2 records that Ruben slept with his stepmother (one of Jacob’s wives) and as a result Ruben was denied of his first-born birth right.

Lot and his daughters committed incest, and their two descendants from this relationship resulted in constant battles between the Israelites and the Moabites and Ammonites (Genesis 19:32).

3. Putting God to the test is to demand God to prove Himself to us in our own way. Pastor Mark Wolford, from the US State of Virginia, was bitten by a rattle snake and was killed during a church service for putting God to test. He was well-known for handling dangerous snakes in a test of faith. We need to practise godly discernment by not doing dangerous acts to demonstrate God’s protection upon us. When we view God through our doubt and demand something of Him as a way of determining whether or not He can be trusted, we are in danger of testing God.

In the Bible, there are examples of both acceptable and unacceptable kinds of testing God. It is acceptable to “test” God concerning tithes and offerings (we give because we have faith in Him), for example, but unacceptable when the test is to demand something from God to prove Himself to us because we lack faith in Him.

4. Grumbling is a harmful attitude and it is evil in the sight of God. Proverbs 20:19 It is that faith-inspired action of obedience that God loves. As seen in the example of Israel’s journey out of Egypt, they developed a habit of grumbling.

How do we value the love of Christ in our life? God has given us everything, even His precious blood on the Cross (John 3:16). There is no greater love than the love of Christ. Jacqueline Kennedy’s love letter to the British Ambassador to the US, was sold in an auction for a price for USD$190,000. The Bible is God’s love letter to us, and is priceless. Our food is to do the will of God and to accomplish His work, John 4:34. Let us work out our salvation and work for food that endures to eternal life (John 6:27).

At the end of the prayer of Jabez, it is clear that God approved of this faithful prayer by granting it. It is also important to see that Jabez was passionate in his plea to God: "He cried out to the God of Israel." God wants to hear that we need Him through passionate prayer.

The Summary of Sermon by Ps. Djohan Handojo at Bethany International Sevice on Sunday, 2 July 2017.

CHALLENGES FOR EVANGELISM

Pastor Djohan recently attended a conference at Wittenburg in Germany where the Reformation started by Martin Luther.

The conference discussed how to bring the Gospel for every person and challenges in sharing it. The gospel brings freedom and transforms life.

In sharing the gospel today, we faced several challenges :-

1. Ideology

People do not believe in God. 40% of the people in the Western world become atheist. They do not find God important in their lives.
2. Secularism

People look into the world and there is less emphasis of God in the society. In South East Asia, many people still have strong faith in God. We still find Christian schools, many Church services in the malls and hotels.

3. Moral

Today sexual disorder is considered normal and acceptable especially in the western world. The government in America and other western countries legalized the same-sex marriage. Even the schools are teaching it and educate the right to develop love and feelings beyond the gender which is gender disorientation.

(
James 1: 2-3) The world is constantly under temptation by the devil. Only the kingdom of God is unshakeable.

We are dealing with self centeredness. People have the tendency to become self centered. Some of us struggle with sin but Jesus is waiting for us to come back when we have gone astray in the world.
(2 Corinthians 5: 17-18) We are the new creation in Christ. It is important for us to walk in Christ every day. God will see us in a different way, God will see Christ who has redeemed us and see us as a new man or new woman in Christ.

When we are still living in the old self, the devil can attack us. When we live as a new man in Christ, the
devil cannot attack us. However, we can live a victorious life because God is in us.

(1 Corinthians 6 : 2 – 3) For us as believers, one day, we will reign and rule with Jesus. We will judge the world and the fallen angels.

Now, the Holy Spirit is in the world but one day the Holy Spirit will be taken away from the world. The world will turn into chaos.
(John 6:54- 55) Whoever eat of my flesh and drink of my blood remains in me, have the salvation and eternal life.

Lately a lot of statement or question why people whose lives haphazardly and do not know the Lord looks as though without problems and more prosperous by the day? The Bible records that the end times are getting bad, people who do not know God will increasingly pursue wealth and prosperity with all manner of evil. As a result, his life will be haphazardly without any rules and they will have a behavioural / temperament of evil behind their attitude that looks sweet to each other down so that they can become richer and richer, and their hearts there is greed and it’s never enough.

Word of God confirms that all of the above is evil in God’s eyes and God would never design ways above, and without the favour of God everything will be in vain. Psalm 127:1 noted that unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. If without God our toil working day and night looking for something to eat will be in vain. Because with God, He will give a rest to anyone that He loves.

So even though we see people who do not know God to be more prosperous and richer, the Word of God says that they would be assigned to a mass wealth but they are not given the right to enjoy, for the right to be given to the people who love and are loved God.

So do not envy the people who do not know God becomes richer. Do what is our part as well as possible because God’s eyes are watching the righteous and His ears are listening to their prayers, and ready to take up those who hope in Him.

TODAY’S WORD: Psalm 37:1-11, NKJV

The Heritage of the Righteous and the Calamity of the Wicked

A Psalm of David.

37 Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. 7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret—it only causes harm. 9 For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. 10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more. 11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

TODAY’S VERSE TO REMEMBER:

“Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.” (Psalm 37:1)

If there’s evil plan is designed to harm you, do not be discouraged, fear or worry, but trust me completely to God that we worship. Although we have experienced accident plan, God would use that event to glorify His name with the high you just as He did in His servant Daniel.

Daniel chapter 4 tells how God bound King Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel’s with relationship of love and very deeply. God made Daniel so instrumental in the government of Babylon because Daniel has a thoughtful wisdom of God that gives the ability to interpret dreams and understand future tremendously.

Then, in Daniel chapter 6, Daniel was so important in a position that made scholars and officials of the Mede envied and tried to throw Daniel in various ways. On the other hand, God made Darius, the king of Mede loved Daniel. However, when people who were envious, managed to trap Daniel by leveraging loyalty and devotion to his lord Daniel, causing Daniel should go into the lion pit. Once known to the king that he had made the ban and led Daniel into the lion pit. King Darius tried to save Daniel from punishment. However, because God used this event to raise even higher Daniel and also declared the greatness of His power, King Darius was in dead-locked, the king was not able to save Daniel.

However, God changed this lion hole event to glorify His name in raised Daniel in a higher position that brings prosperity abound for Daniel.

The same God will do it for you.

TODAY’S WORD: Daniel 6, NKJV

The Plot Against Daniel

6 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; 2 and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. 4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. 5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”

6 So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him: “King Darius, live forever! 7 All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counsellors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the written decree.

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

11 Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. 12 And they went before the king, and spoke concerning the king’s decree: “Have you not signed a decree that every man who petitions any god or man within thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?”

The king answered and said, “The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.”

13 So they answered and said before the king, “That Daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, does not show due regard for you, O king, or for the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.”

14 And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him. 15 Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.”

16 So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.” 17 Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.

Daniel Saved from the Lions

18 Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him. 19 Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”

21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”

23 Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.

Darius Honours God

24 And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions—them, their children, and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den.

25 Then King Darius wrote:

To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth:

Peace be multiplied to you.

26 I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.

For He is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end. 27 He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.

28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

TODAY’S VERSE TO REMEMBER:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)

TODAY’S ACTION:

God is sovereign over your life, not others, so do not be afraid of what others do to you.

TODAY’S QUOTE:

What have being planned evil for you, God who loves you have planned good over your life.

In these last days, many new teachings that appear in this world. They offer the true life, the true god, the true teaching, and others. Is God’s word says about this development? The Bible records that in the last days, Satan will be actively working with wearing a lot of people who would call themselves prophets, messiahs, gods and others. The Word of God in Matthew 24:4 warns us to beware lest we be affected and give a gap because the devil is very clever use of loopholes to get in and destroy. We must clearly understand that only the Lord Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life to come to God there is no other way, and the safety and the good news has been offered to man. However, the devil never stops working to thwart the knowledge of the Lord Jesus as the only way to offer many other options the way it looks quick and instant answer the needs of people who want everything instantly.

The Bible also notes that everything that is not from the Lord will go out by itself, but everything that comes from the movement of God and for the glory of the Lord will continue to grow despite the pressure, persecution and rejection.

The Lord Jesus is the only way, truth and life. Excluding the Lord Jesus is no other way, no other truth and no life. Since it came to him that according to the word of God, each of which came to Him would be saved.

TODAY’S WORD: John 14:6, NKJV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

TODAY’S VERSE TO REMEMBER:

“And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.” (Matthew 24:4)

A dream is something that has not happened this time. Sometimes dreams can tell something so great that people say “Oh it’s just a dream.” Therefore, most of us fail to achieve a dream because we think the dream was too oversized and too far and have less faith or lack of trying to make it happen.

But did you know that in many ways God speaks through dreams. Bible records, Joseph had a dream that he would be the young king to whom all his brothers would bow down. The Bible also recorded well and knew that Joseph believe God-given dream even to achieve those dreams, Joseph had to pass through life’s journey full of misery that is very different from the dream. After 13 years later the new Joseph had his dream come true. Against the plan of God, Joseph took the attitude of believing without hesitation and look forward to God-given dream patiently and faithfully. Not all dreams come from God because there are a lot of dreams that came from the desire of the soul/mind which is not accomplished. But in many cases God uses dreams to speak and God gives the Holy Spirit to discern a dream that is not true or a dream from God. If the dream is the way God speaks, He will give a series of stories that regularly and repeatedly emphasized.

But know that God does not want us to stand idly by and so we have a dream to sleep and waited in silence. Fulfil God but God wants us to like Joseph who continue to work with God to live their lives even to be able to realize the dream/purpose in life they have to undergo suffering and misery to bring perseverance and fortitude.

TODAY’S WORD: Habakkuk 2:1-5, NKJV

I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.

The Just Live by Faith

2 Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

Woe to the Wicked

5 “Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, He is a proud man, and he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death, and cannot be satisfied,

He gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples.

TODAY’S VERSE TO REMEMBER:

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, It will not tarry.” (Habakkuk 2:3)

TODAY’S ACTION:

Dreams will come true as long as we believe in God who gives the dream will make it true.

TODAY’S QUOTE:

God has never changed from the past, now and forever, God can use dreams to speak to us. God will also give us the strength to wait and walk with Him until that dream becomes a reality.

On Father’s Day event at an elementary school, the children were asked to write a story about their father. It was interesting to know when children began to tell you about their father in writing, they revealed what it is with a straight to the point language. They talked about how they were thankful and grateful for his kindness. Maybe for a father to the things they were doing, were ordinary matter as a form of an obligation. But if we as a father, reading what was written by our children, our hearts would have touched, moved the way they express kindness to their parents that their father is the best dad in the world. As a good father, after reading the child’s gratitude, we will definitely have a commitment to provide what is best for the children.

Similarly, with the heart of God who is our good Father. For actually, what God has given is something impossible to repay, and therefore there is only one way to please God is by giving thanks and gratitude in all things. At the moment we do that, I’m sure God’s feeling which is love, will be moved because it is exactly what we will do, make God and heaven to rejoice. When the heaven rejoices, then all of our necessities, God will provide even before it is spoken.

Therefore, make God’s heart be proud by giving thanks in all things and thankfulness in all circumstances. And when God smiles happily, it will open the doors of heaven and pour out blessing to you.

TODAY’S WORD: Psalm 107:1-9, NKJV

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, 3 And gathered out of the lands, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the south. 4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; They found no city to dwell in. 5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He delivered them out of their distresses. 7 And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. 8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 9 For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.

TODAY’S VERSE TO REMEMBER:

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1)